Dear Dr. Sharma and Dr. Arvind Singh,

Do you think we are using our medicinal plant resources properly?

Do you think we are actually interested to perform research with the intension to use them for benefit of mankind?

Personally, I think almost every rupees are spend for development of new medicine from natural resources are framed and funded for copy paste research of the west or for some other vested interest.

Insulin plant is an example.

Thanks.

Dear Pattanyak Sir,

Please have a look at this useful link.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2924971/

Good luck!

Follow

Dear Dr . Shibabrata Pattanayak , Insulin plant (Costus Igneus) is useful to treat diabetes and is a very commonly used in INDIA.

Costus Igneus also known as Insulin Plant (Chamaecostus cuspidatus) is known for its medicinal properties. It is helpful to treat Type-2 diabetes. The plant is known by varieties of a name in different parts of the world. Some call it tabubungiaw while some call it spiral flag.

The leaf of the plant helps in producing insulin. They control the blood sugar levels of our body. The leaves of Insulin Plant contain corosolic acid which helps to generate insulin thereby treating diabetes.

It must be so, most pharmaceutical compounds are derived from plants, I follow the answers

Please also have a look at this link.

http://www.jcdr.net/article_fulltext.asp?id=766

It is good question. I follow its answers.

Hope you good luck.

Regards

It has some successes in treating type-two diabetes

It is believed that consumption of the insulin plant leaves helps lower the blood glucose levels, and diabetics who consumed the leaves of this plant report a fall in their blood glucose levels.

Costus igneus, commonly known as the Insulin plant has been used over the years in the treatment of diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes.

It is believed that it increases the sensitivity of the pancreas and/or stimulates the production of sufficient insulin to 'mop up' excess blood glucose.

Good question to answer.

Interesting question, following.

Yes it is of benefit for diabetes treatment

This is an interesting question. I will be following the answers and learn about the plant and how it works.

By any chance anybody knows how it is called in Bengali ?

Looking forward to more interesting answers.

I will follow Dr Beemnet's answer followed by Dr Raid's extended answer.

I should agree with Prof Al-Ani

Thank you for sharing the question. I had never heard of it!

To know about this plant is quite new for me. I would like to more about it from the discussion among worthy RG members. Thanks Pattanayak Ji for asking such a good question.

Dear Dr. Bandyopadhyay Sir,

As per one article, it is called as 'Piasal' in Bengali. Local name of this plant in different languages can be found in the following link:

www.stuartxchange.org/InsulinPlant.

Thanks

Interesting.

Dear Dr. Pattanayak Sir,

I would like to update about the scientific name of insulin plant. Its new name is Chamaecostus cuspidatus (Nees & Mart.) C. Specht & D. W. Stev.

Synonyms

Costus igneus N.E. Br.

Costus cuspidatus (Nees & Mart.) Maas

Globba cuspidata Nees & Mart.

Dear Dr Pattanyak Sir,

Costus pictus (= Costus mexicanus) is also known as 'insulin plant" due to its anti-diabetic property. Please have a look at these PDF attachments.

Good luck!

Yes, The leaf of the plant has anti-diabetic property .

Dear Dr. Sharma and Dr. Arvind Singh,

Do you think we are using our medicinal plant resources properly?

Do you think we are actually interested to perform research with the intension to use them for benefit of mankind?

Personally, I think almost every rupees are spend for development of new medicine from natural resources are framed and funded for copy paste research of the west or for some other vested interest.

Insulin plant is an example.

Thanks.

;-According to a study, leaves of insulin plant (Costus igeus) found to reduce fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels, bringing them down towards normal, in dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia in rats. Reduction in the fasting and the postprandial blood sugar levels with leaves of insulin plant was comparable with that obtained with Glibenclamide.

Have a look to the following thread :-

Article Effect of the Insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaves on dexame...

@ Shibabrata Pattanyak

I totally agree with you Sir. There is urgent need to conduct serious researches on medicinal plants for the benefit of mankind.

I would also like to add that Indian medicinal plants are threatened due over-exploitation.

India is a hub of the wild collected plant medicine industry in Asia, but key medicinal plant species have declined due over-collection to supply domestic and foreign medicinal markets. So there is also need to conserve medicinal plants in india.

Leaf of Costus igneus helps to build up insulin by strengthening beta cells of Pancreas in the human body, also can help in maintaining blood glucose levels

Please have a look this review papers

1. Choudhary Urmila, et al. Antidiabetic Potential of Insulin Plant (Costus igneus) Leaf Extracts in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats. Int. J. Med. Pharm, Res., 2015, 3(2): 989-995.

2. Murthy EGK Talasila, Hemalatha Bavirisetti1, Jithendra Chimakurthy, Mayuren Candasamy. Effect of Costus igneus: The insulin plant, on pre-diabetes and diabetes in neonatal streptozotocin rats. Journal of Health Sciences

3. 2014;4(3):162-168

4. Hegde PK, Rao HA, Rao PN. A review on Insulin plant (Costus igneus Nak). Pharmacognosy Reviews. 2014;8(15):67-72. doi:10.4103/0973-7847.125536.

5. Shetty AJ, Choudhury D, Rejeesh, Nair V, Kuruvilla M, Kotian S. Effect of the insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaves on dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia. International Journal of Ayurveda Research. 2010;1(2):100-102. doi:10.4103/0974-7788.64396.

It's interesting to know that such plant that can directly stimulate the production of insulin in the body exists. My question now is: Has this plant been properly standardised? Are there complications in the case of overdose? Is it possible that a patient may suffer from low blood sugar level from taking excess of this plant's extract?

Dear Dr. Sarhat, Dr. Arvind Singh and all other colleagues,

As per international norms, trial of a new medicine is performed in some phases. Dose, toxicity etc are studied and standardised by these trials.

The first world based pharma houses want to identify active principles from the herbs to synthesise it in artificially in the laboratory to start global business to get profit of trillions of dollars daily.

For plant derived medicine with multi components, they discourage all researches as they have fear to lose the global business. It is purely a business trick.

But why the poor people of the third world should take some chemicals as the name of medicine where more effective alternatives are available?

They will not help us anyway. They will raise obstructions in different ways and levels.

But if we consider our obligation is only to the people of our countries and also for science, we MUST think otherwise!

But we are not doing it!

Personally I am trying to convince researchers to start this type of research with some novel idea, but do not get support.

We all read the western science, so our thoughts are sized in that designed shape.

In some seminars, many physicians from Ayurvedic and Allopathic medicine even do not want to hear any alternative idea!

Even though, I am hopeful. I am hopeful with the new generation researchers.

Thanks.

this link is useful

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2924971/

regards

Following.

Dear Dr. Pattanayak,

Thanks for providing with the Bengali name of the plant.

I do agree with your views on the use of indigenous plants for the treatment of various ailments.

I am sure treatment with such plant-based products should be cheaper and hence affordable to many more people.

Dear Dr. Shibabrata Pattanayak ..

Diabetes mellitus induced by glucocorticoids is similar to type 2 diabetes mellitus, where insulin resistance constitutes an essential component. Further it may be mentioned that glucocorticoids also cause obesity, hypertension, hyperurecemia, increased plasminogen activator inhibitor – 1, low HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol along with glucose intolerance. The cluster of these abnormalities was coined as "metabolic syndrome" by WHO in 1999 .

Regards.

Costus igneus, commonly known as insulin plant in India, belongs to the family Costaceae. Consumption of the leaves are believed to lower blood glucose levels, and diabetics who consumed the leaves of this plant did report a fall in their blood glucose levels

Hi , Dr. Shibabrata Pattanayak .

Also you can know that Costus igneus and Costus pictus , commonly known as Spiral flag, is a member of Costaceae . It,s a perennial, upright, spreading plant reaching about two feet tall, with spirally arranged leaves and attractive flowers.It,s leaves are used as a dietary supplement in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Recently, a number of researches have been carried out to evaluate the anti-diabetic potential of this plant .

Hello Dr. Shibabrata Pattanayak ,,,

Methanolic extract of Costus igneus showed maximum anti-bacterial activity against gram-positive Bacillus cerus, Bacillus megaterium, Micrococcus leuteus, Staphylococcusn aureus, Streptococcus lactis, and gram-negative strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Salmonella typhimurium. Also it has an anti-cancer effect, the ethanolic extract of leaves of C. pictus was found to have anti-proliferative and anti-cancer potential in in-vitro mammalian fibrosarcoma (HT-1080) cells.

Good luck.

Interesting question, following.

Dear Sir, you can return to the following references , they may be helpful:

1. Shetty AJ, Parampalli SM, Bhandarkar R, Kotian S. Effect of the insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaves on blood glucose levels in diabetic patients: A cross sectional study. J Clin Diagn Res. 2010;4:2617–21.

2 - Meléndez-Camargo ME, Castillo-Nájera R, Silva-Torres R, Campos-Aldrete ME. Evaluation of the diuretic effect of the aqueous extract of Costus pictus D. Don in rat. Proc West Pharmacol Soc. 2006;49:72–4.

3 - Devi VD, Urooj A. Nutrient profile and antioxidant components of Costus specious Sm. and Costus igneus Nak. Indian J Nat Prod Resour. 2010;1:116–8.

4 - Jothivel N, Ponnusamy SP, Appachi M, Singaravel S, Rasilingam D, Deivasigamani K, et al. Anti-diabetic activity of methanol leaf extract of Costus pictus D. Don in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Journal of Health Science. 2007;53:655–63.

5 - Jayasri MA, Gunasekaran S, Radha A, Mathew TL. Anti-diabetic effect of Costus pictus leaves in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Int J Diabetes and Metabolism. 2008;16:117–22.

6 - Gireesh G, Thomas SK, Joseph B, Paulose CS. Antihyperglycemic and insulin secretory activity of Costus pictus leaf extract in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats and in in vitro pancreatic islet culture. J Ethnopharmacol. 2009;123:470–4

7 - Bhat V, Asuti N, Kamat A, Sikarwar MS, Patil MB. Antidiabetic activity of insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaf extract in diabetic rats. J Pharm Res. 2010;3:608–11.

8 - Mani P, Kumar AR, Bastin TM, Jenifer S, Arumugam M. Comparative evaluation of extracts of C. igneus (or C. pictus) for hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity in alloxan diabetic rats. Int J Pharm Tech. 2010;2:183–95.

9 - Kumudhavalli MV, Jaykar B. Evaluation of antidiabetic activity of Costus igneus (L) leaves on STZ induced diabetic rats. Der Pharmacia Sinica. 2012;3:1–4.

10 - Keller AC, Vandebroek I, Liu Y, Balick MJ, Kronenberg F, Kennelly EJ, et al. Costus spicatus tea failed to improve diabetic progression in C57BLKS/J db/db mice, a model of type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Ethnopharmacol. 2009;121:248–54.

With highly appreciation.

Costus igneus, (Insulin plant) is a medicinal plant and capable of having magic cure for Diabetes. Leaf of this herbal plant helps to build up insulin by strengthening beta cells of pancreas in the human body thus popularly known as “Insulin plant” .

The leaves of this herbal medicinal plant are used to control blood sugar levels .The patient has to consume two leaves in the morning and two leaves in evening for first week. From  the second week one leaf in the morning and one in the evening. This dosage should be continued for 30 days. The leaves of Insulin plant must be chewed well before swallowing. after chewing the leaves / leaf have a little water. Having natural concentration of Corosolic acid, Insulin plant can have a positive effect on blood sugar levels. Corosolic acid works in metabolism of glucoseprocess like insulin that reduces blood sugar levels by transporting glucose into cells and out of the bloodstream. This can be beneficial to anyone who has trouble with high blood sugar levels, and particularly to that in diabetes.

Regards.

The insulin plant, Costus igneus, is used as an ornamental plant in Southern India. Powdered leaves of the insulin plant have been shown to be effective in controlling blood sugar levels.

Studies showed that consumption of the leaves without discontinuing conventional drugs does help in bringing down blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic complications.

Some studies showed that, after 15 days of consuming the leaves of Costus igneus, there was a sharp decrease in fasting blood sugar levels. Also, certain cases of leg ulcers showed significant improvement after combining the two therapies.

The information in the following links may be helpful

http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/93433

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781498753241

I have not gone through all the links and references provided in this interesting question-discussion, but would be interested to know if the leaf extract works for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? What are the authentic reports of trials on humans and animals absolutely ruling out any side effects?

Best

Syed

Good question. I am following.

Hello Dr. Pattnayak and other esteemed colleagues,

We have worked extensively at elucidating hypoglycemic potential of Costus igneus leaves and published two good research articles. Basically we have isolated insulin like peptide from the plant and shown that it is functionally similar to human insulin.

Here are the links for the same. These articles are already on researchgate.

Article Elucidation of hypoglycemic action and toxicity studies of i...

Article Orally active hypoglycemic protein from Costus igneus N. E. ...

I am asking myself the same question. I have no evidence to claim one way or the other despite the number of in vitro tests. However, there are some things which strike me as odd about the insulin plant and they are as follows:

1. There is confusion around the nomenclature. Costus picus or Costus Igneus (are they synonym?)

2. As to the family some paper mention Costaceae other Zingiberaceae

3. Despite the buzz around this plant, I could not trace from where this noise originated. Earliest paper I found mentioned Costus Igneus (Devi and Urooj, 2008) from India and outside India the oldest paper dated in 1988 [ Lambert, N., Baccou, J. C., & Sauvaire, Y. (1988). Screening for diosgenin in rhizomes from 3 costus species (c. deistellii, c. igneus, c. lucanusianus). Planta medica, 54 (4), 366-367. Not related to diabetes.

4. Mexico or South America do not seem to hold much interest for this plant's wonder anti-diabetic properties as since 2006 (Melendez-Camargo et al., 2006) I could not find work about Costus igneus or Costus pictus in relation to diabetes. The Melendez-Camargo et al. (2006) paper is on the plant's diuretic properties and this tally well with its reported traditional use in Mexico for renal issues.

5. Pubmed give 11 items on a simple search with (Costus Pictus) and 11 for Costus igneus grouping in vitro and in vivo.

6. I understand it was introduced in India recently (anyone with info as to date). Then how did this plant jumped from ornamental to being chewed on to control glucose level or stimulate insulin secretion?

7. Anyone has an idea as to how the leave taste? Is it enjoyable to chew on? I cannot remember seeing any paper making a reference to that aspect other than an press article where it was described as 'tinge of bitterness but not quite'

8. Any clinical trials data? Have the people claiming to used the plant been followed up?

Any comments or input would be most appreciated. I am from Mauritius where diabetes is a MAJOR problem. It would be great that chewing on a leave can resolved such a disastrous health problem.

Many thanks,

Ouma

do somebody know any about availability in China/Chinese traditional medicine and name in Chinese, any dictionaries failed

Dear Authors and peers kindly send me scientifici publications in this insulin plant. Because I have many plants in my garden and we are using this as a salad at least once a week.

Dear Sir

Botanical name of insulin plant is coctus pictus . Kindly go through the website there are more articles available.it is used for diabetes as well as to treat ovarian cyst.

Poonkodi Kathirvel Hello. The link does not seem to work. I would indeed appreciate some insight into this plant.

@ Dr. R.M. Dharmadasa Sir

Chamaecostus cuspidatus (= Costus igneus) is a herbaceous plant native to eastern Brazil. It belongs to family Costaceae. In India, it is known as insulin plant because of its use in Ayurvedic medicine for its purported anti-diabetic properties. Please take a look at the following RG links and PDF attachments.

Article Costus speciosus, An antidiabetic plant-review

Article Phytochemical and hypoglycemic activity of Costus pictus pla...

Article Effect of the Insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaves on dexame...

Article Antidiabetic activity of insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaf ...

Article Effect of Costus igneus: The insulin plant, on prediabetes a...

Article Beneficial effects of Costus igneus and dose response studie...

Article Anti-hyperglycemic activity of Insulin plant leaves (Chamaec...

Article In Vitro Evaluation of Anti-Diabetic Activity of Leaf and Ca...

Article In-Vivo Anti-Diabetic and Wound Healing Effect of Antioxidan...

Article In Vivo Antidiabetic and In Vitro Antioxidant and Antimicrob...

Article Insulin plant (Costus pictus) extract improves insulin sensi...

Thanks!

Follow

interesting query that provoked several valuable, informations , links and comments from our RG colleagues

The Insulin Pump is a small practical device that does not exceed the size of a small mobile or pager. It is easy to carry in the pocket or on the custom belt or hide it under clothes. The way the insulin pump works is somewhat similar to how the pancreas works in secreting the insulin hormone. The insulin pump helps diabetics control blood sugar better and easier, so most diabetics prefer to use an insulin pump instead of daily injections. It is often used for people with type 1 diabetes, and may be described for type 2 patients as the case may be.

@ Dr. Shibabrata Pattanayak Sir

Please also have a look at this useful link.

https://www.quora.com/Do-insulin-plants-control-diabetics

Thanks!

Arvind Singh Many thanks for the shared info